The Walt Disney Studios Lot is already delivering some of the best character interactions at Walt Disney World. From hair braiding with Rapunzel to warrior poses with Mulan, duck duck Donald with Donald Duck to simulating a runaway train ride with Goofy as the conductor (sound familiar?), the character interactions here are building core memories for little ones and parents alike. But that’s about to change later this Summer when they move indoors to a traditional meet and greet experience. So, what will Walt Disney World do?
Hollywood Studios Has The Best Character Interactions at Walt Disney World
In This Article
- Why the Walt Disney Studios Lot courtyard characters are a hit
- What Off the Page inside The Magic of Disney Animation will look like
- The zero-sum game question: what fills the courtyard when characters move indoors?
- Hollywood Studios character count by the numbers
You’ve seen the viral videos and heartwarming photos of children playing with characters in the Walt Disney Studios Lot courtyard at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. I’ll be honest, I haven’t seen kids this engaged with characters since September 27, 2023 (my final voyage on the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser immersive theater experience). Needless to say, the character interactions in Animation Courtyard are an absolute hit with guests, but what happens when these characters move indoors?
As a refresher, The Magic of Disney Animation will open late this Summer. Yesterday, Walt Disney World released a playful map of the space, and we shared our experience taking a recent behind-the-scenes hard hat tour of the construction site. One part of the sprawling space is the Off the Page character meet-and-greet space. Off the Page has 6 character meet and greet backdrops, and the characters that are currently meeting out in the Walt Disney Studios Lot courtyard lawn will all be moving indoors when the dedicated meet and greet spaces open later this Summer.
To be clear, the characters are not going away, just moving indoors to their dedicated meet and greet spaces.
Honestly, I don’t envy the entertainment managers and decision-makers. Every time I’ve visited the courtyard area, there are always a handful of managers watching children playing hide and seek, sitting down for a shaded storytime under a big tree, or any number of fun activities the characters have up their sleeves. While the meet and greet spaces look like they’ll be pretty cool (featuring backdrops representing different departments and stages of animation), I can’t help but wonder if a manager or two has looked at how well received the character interactions in the courtyard are and stopped to wonder what they’re doing moving these characters indoors. I know I am.
Specifically, I want to know what comes next. Over the years, I’ve generally seen character meet-and-greets as a zero-sum game in the theme parks. If you have a new character experience in one corner of the park, it’s usually because another character has stopped meeting somewhere else. If Disney is going to continue to have characters in the courtyard at the Walt Disney Studios Lot, they are going to have to invest pretty heavily in adding characters to the Hollywood Studios lineup. I would be impressed if they did.
Walt Disney World hasn’t said what comes next once the characters move indoors, but I’m hopeful to learn more in the coming months. According to the My Disney Experience app, there are currently 29 characters that guests can meet or engage with at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. That’s more than any other Walt Disney World theme park, and it’s not really close (Magic Kingdom is in second place at 22 characters). If Walt Disney World were to continue the wonderful courtyard character interactions, we could see the number of characters in the park climb north of 30, and perhaps even to 33 or 34 characters – assuming this isn’t another zero-sum game.
Hollywood Studios is already the park for character meet-and-greets and interactions. If Disney is able to invest like we think they should in keeping the Walt Disney Studios Lot courtyard alive with characters, the park would not only cement that position as the character park, but it could lead the way in redefining how characters engage with guests at Walt Disney World.
If you’re visiting Disney’s Hollywood Studios over the next few weeks (or months), please be sure to drop by Animation Courtyard and check out the character interactions – especially if you have little ones. It’s truly magical and something that isn’t guaranteed to stick around. As we recently learned, Disney is really locked in on listening to and leveraging guest feedback, so be sure to leave some feedback on the character interactions in Animation Courtyard if you enjoyed it!
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
I love the idea of keeping the roaming characters in the courtyard! I was just thinking you could take the current characters inside and then keep roaming characters by maybe adding mickey and minnie and the rest can just be random surprises! I think it’s a great way to add back in some rare characters like the aristocats and others!